Solar Panels in Somerset

A south-facing roof in Taunton generates about 1,026 kWh per kWp a year on the EU's PVGIS model, and every unit you use saves 26.58p at the South Western England price cap rate. A typical 4.5kWp system would make about 4,617 kWh a year.

How much electricity solar panels make in Somerset

A south-facing 1kWp system at 35 degrees in Taunton generates about 1,026 kWh a year, according to the EU's PVGIS model. That ranks 12 of the 31 areas we cover, which run from 850 kWh in Glasgow to 1,177 kWh in Sussex. East and west roofs still work, at roughly a fifth less.

PVGIS is a modelled figure for an unshaded roof with 14% system losses, and it runs higher than the MCS method installers must use for your written estimate, which gives roughly 800 to 950 kWh per kWp for a well-oriented UK roof. Use PVGIS to compare places and the installer's MCS estimate to plan your budget. Our guides to which direction panels should face and how much electricity solar panels produce go further.

What that electricity is worth in Somerset

Every unit you use yourself saves 26.58p, the Ofgem price cap rate for direct debit customers in the South Western England region from 1 October to 31 December 2026. The Great Britain average is 26.32p. Every unit you export earns whatever your Smart Export Guarantee tariff pays, which the Energy Saving Trust puts at around 12p typically.

Take the Energy Saving Trust's typical 4.5kWp home system. On the PVGIS figure for Somerset it would generate about 4,617 kWh a year. If you used all of it, that would be worth about £1,227. If you exported all of it, about £554. Real homes sit between the two, and a battery or daytime use pushes you towards the higher figure. The Energy Saving Trust prices that typical system at around £7,600. See our solar panel cost guide and current export rates.

Second only to Cornwall for solar

The Somerset Council area had 28,561 solar installations at the end of 2025, the second highest count of any UK local authority after Cornwall's 34,740. That is about 114 per 1,000 households by our count from the government's local authority table, well above the UK average of about 69, with 566 MW of capacity installed. It also grew fast: 24,151 installations a year earlier, so the county added more than 4,400 in twelve months. The government warns that its 2025 figures were produced before the latest postcode lookup, so 31,900 installations across Great Britain could not be assigned to a council yet and these counts will be revised upward.

The two Somerset areas outside Somerset Council look nothing like each other. North Somerset had 13,161 installations across 94,600 households, about 139 per 1,000. Bath and North East Somerset had 6,011 across 79,200 households, about 76 per 1,000, a reflection of how much of Bath is flats and listed Georgian terraces. The wider South West added 17,539 installations in 2026 up to July and ranked second among UK regions, according to government figures.

A county of detached houses, which makes solar simpler

Census 2021 counted 250,123 households in Somerset, of which 32.5% are detached and 31.3% semi-detached: nearly two thirds in a house with its own roof. Across England and Wales the detached share is 23.2%, so Somerset runs a third higher. Only 9.3% of Somerset households live in a purpose-built block of flats, against 16.6% nationally.

That matters more than it sounds. A detached or semi-detached house usually means one owner, one roof and nobody to ask: no freeholder, no management company, no shared roof to negotiate. It is a large part of why the county's installation count is where it is, and it is why quotes here tend to be for bigger arrays than in a city. If you are in one of Somerset's flats, our guide to solar panels for flats covers the extra permissions.

Grants in Somerset: the Warm Homes pot is paused

Somerset's Warm Homes: Local Grant does fund solar panels and solar batteries, but applications are paused because the money is committed to the end of the scheme in March 2028. The delivery organisation says plainly that applications are currently paused, and new applicants can only join a waiting list. The scale explains it: the council secured roughly six million pounds over the three years to March 2028, plus a further million announced in 2026, and solar is one of eight measure types competing for it. Somerset's own criteria are an EPC graded D or below, plus one of three routes: living in an IMD 1 to 2 area, receipt of a listed means-tested benefit, or a gross combined household income below £36,000 across everyone over 18 in the property. Privately rented homes use the same tenant criteria, with a separate test for the landlord. The council adds that it cannot process every application because the funding is limited, and that funding is not guaranteed and runs first come, first served. Our guide to solar panel grants in the UK has the national picture.

If you do not qualify, Somerset Council runs a loan instead, through Lendology, a Taunton-based community interest company. It lends up to £20,000 over up to 15 years at 4% fixed, 4.2% APR representative, with no early repayment charge, and the council sets one rate that everyone in Somerset gets regardless of the amount, the term or their circumstances. Lending decisions take account of poor credit history, retirement and being on benefits. The loan is normally secured by a title restriction on your home, so read that part carefully. The council's own energy guidance puts the saving from solar panels at up to £400 a year.

Planning: Exmoor, four National Landscapes and a long Article 4 register

Exmoor National Park, which covers 693 square kilometres with more than 70% of it inside Somerset, publishes its own domestic solar guidance and is supportive, but it sets design rules that change what your installer can fit. Panels must not sit above the highest part of the roof, excluding the chimney, and must project no more than 200mm from the roof slope or wall. Rear slopes and modern outbuildings are preferred to front slopes, matte rather than shiny materials are recommended, and inside the park's conservation areas panels are not permitted on walls facing the highway. Nothing can go on a scheduled monument, and a listed building will very likely need listed building consent and may be refused. The park authority suggests a well-screened ground-mounted array, which does need planning permission, can be a better answer than a prominent roof install. Four National Landscapes also sit in or partly in the county: the Quantock Hills, England's first AONB, designated in 1956, the Blackdown Hills, the Mendip Hills and a fragment of Cranborne Chase.

Away from the park, the street matters more than the town. Somerset Council's confirmed Article 4 register, inherited from the five former district councils, names individual conservation areas and roads: two directions in Yeovil, the Bruton, Castle Cary and Wincanton conservation areas, a 1977 direction on Staplegrove Road in Taunton, one in Wellington, and a blanket Mendip direction covering a range of locations. An Article 4 direction can remove the permitted development right a roof install relies on, so check the register for your address rather than assuming. The council also warns that in a conservation area you may need its written consent for solar panels even where permission would not be needed elsewhere, that a heritage statement should accompany any application, and that skipping the check can lead to enforcement. It publishes its own planning guide to installing renewable energy on homes. Our guides to permitted development for solar panels and solar panels in a conservation area cover the English rules, which apply here: rooftop solar on a house is usually permitted development, conservation areas restrict walls facing a highway rather than roof slopes, and a flat roof on article 2(3) land needs prior approval.

Two network operators in one county

Somerset is split between two distribution network operators, and which one you have changes the paperwork. The council says so itself: most of the county is National Grid Electricity Distribution, while some eastern parts are on Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks. On the National Grid side, a home system under 16A per phase uses the G98 fit-and-notify route, with notification due within 28 days of commissioning on a form National Grid says takes about 10 to 15 minutes online.

On the SSEN side the wording differs: G98 covers installs up to 3.68kW per phase, notified on a G98 Form B by email within 28 days of commissioning. SSEN also asks for prior approval rather than fit-and-notify if the same installer has already commissioned generation in the same postcode district in the previous 28 days, which is worth raising if your neighbours have just had panels fitted. Our G98 and G99 guide explains both. Also in the South West, see solar panels in Devon, solar panels in Cornwall and solar panels in Dorset.

Getting solar quotes in Somerset

Get at least three written quotes from MCS-certified installers, each with a performance estimate for your roof and a full breakdown of what is supplied. The Renewable Energy Consumer Code recommends quotes from at least 3 different companies, limits its members to a deposit of no more than 25% of the contract price, and says a reputable company will never make you feel pressured into signing. Our guide to choosing a solar installer covers what to check.

Sources for this page

Local sources checked on 23 October 2026. Solar yields: PVGIS 5.2, EU Joint Research Centre, modelled October 2026. Electricity prices: Ofgem price cap by region. System cost and export rate: Energy Saving Trust. Local sources:

• DESNZ: Renewable electricity by local authority, 2014 to 2025
• DESNZ: first regional solar breakdown, 27 August 2026
• Census 2021 TS044 accommodation type, Somerset (Nomis)
• Somerset Council: retrofit and energy efficiency (Warm Homes: Local Grant measures)
• Warm Homes: Local Grant in Somerset - applications paused
• GOV.UK: apply for the Warm Homes: Local Grant
• Somerset Council home improvement loans (Lendology)
• Exmoor National Park Authority: domestic solar PV advice
• Somerset Council: Article 4 directions register
• Somerset Council: conservation areas
• Somerset Council: energy and built environment (network operators)
• National Grid: micro-generation G98 notification
• SSEN: micro-generation installations up to 3.68kW per phase
• Somerset Intelligence: land designations